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The 'New Kings' of Hawthrone
During Hawthrone's two and a half centuries of existence, the Altimir dynasty was never broken. Many great rulers like Auris the Noble, Yancha the Wise, and Harold the Harmonious ruled and brought prosperity to all residents within the kingdom. Peace, however, was almost broken in 2598 when Oswald the Old died with only a daughter for an heir. No woman had ever ruled Hawthrone before, and most members of the King's Council preferred to stick with tradition and have a male sit the Haw-throne. Sinus of Altimir, the nephew of Oswald the Old, proposed that his 22 year old son, Stannis, should take the throne, but the Council rejected the idea due to Sinus' cold nature and infamy as a self-proclaimed atheist. Even though Stannis was a Harmonist, the Council continued to refuse him. For a full year, the Council ran political affairs without a King. In early 2599, a magical explosion on the streets of Dolec killed 127 citizens and wounded another 256. The explosion resembled the yellow flames used by the Yongori to draw moomagi out of forests. The attack was blamed on the Darii-Yon, the largest of the Yongori tribes still in existence. After two months of deliberation by councils at all levels of government, Sinus decided to take matters into his own hands. He and his son Stannis gathered a militia of nearly 10,000 citizen-volunteers and magicians to attack the Darii-Yon heathens. It is said that the tribe's warriors were defeated in the battle of Jagi Hill. Sinus' militia took almost 9,000 casualties, but the Darii-Yon tribe was seemingly wiped from existence. Most of those who survived were magicians, also. At the conclusion of the battle, Sinus' marched on the King's Keep in Altimir and protested with citizens outside the gates against the King's Council for failing to provide justice for the victims of the Dolec Massacre. Fearing that they would lose their new-found power, the Council ordered the City Guard to dilute the crowd, but the attempt only ended in violence. Some 500 citizens were slaughtered in the Keep Riot, along with nearly 200 guardsmen. Sinus also lost his life. Stannis, a young man and fatherless, chose to find justice through peace and harmony. Using his faith in Harmonism, he won the support of the common citizenry. After four petitions to demand the Council's resignation, Stannis of Altimir lead some 500,000 citizens in a siege against the King's Keep. After five months, the guardsmen turned against the Councillors and opened the gates to Stannis. On the first day of the new year, 2500, Stannis I Altimir was crowned and a new council was elected by the citizenry, ushering in a "New Era" of peace, according to Stannis and his followers. As first order of business, the King of Hawthrone was granted new constitutional powers to "defend the nation" against "elites and fortune seekers" to prevent future abuse of councilors across the kingdom. Many citizens, however, noticed that the new powers simply gave the King the ability to ignore the will of the people, as represented through the King's Council. Some dared to speculate that all the events surrounding Stannis' rise to power had been a ploy of his father's to grant more executive power to the King, but most found this notion preposterous, despite the evidence... Stannis I founded the Royal Guard, a personal army of 1,000 men highly trained in martial disciplines and sworn to answer only to the rightful king. Stannis also passed new agricultural subsidies and funded horse-breeders to mass produce the stocky, yet swift Hawthrone breeds of horse. Additionally, Stannis allowed magicians who had served his father to establish the Central Mages' Guild of Avaron in the city of Rott. Stannis I martial and magical exploits won him great renown, but also great controversy among staunch Harmonists who found the notion of a personal army dangerous to peace and harmony. Stannis II Altimir, crowned in 2560 followed his father's footsteps in both action and controversy. He added the amount of men to the Royal Guard until it numbered 5,000 skilled warriors. Stannis, additionally, founded the first public army in Hawthrone's history to counteract his decision to increase the size of his own. Following his father's footsteps in his interest in horse and mounted combat, Stannis II made the army consist of three cavalry units of 2,500 men and horse each. The Hawthrone Mounted Men-at-Arms, as they were called proved extremely useful in hunting down rogue Yongori tribesmen when raids against villages began in 2574. Interestingly, Stannis II took a huge interest in arcane arts as well. He granted funding for the founding of not one or two, but five magical colleges in the realm, the greatest being the Altimir School of the Arcane based in the capital. Stannis allowed two new magic guilds, the Merdaxes Men and the Hawthrone Conclave, to form also. Two brand new alchemy guilds were started independently of Stannis' actions, but he granted them funds all the same. Near the end of his reign, Stannis II formed his own personal council of Seven Mages to consult him in arcane matters. For the first time in its history, a King of Hawthrone also enlisted the service of a Court Wizard, to entertain guests and threaten enemies with magic alike. After Stannis II Altimir died of a pox in 2589, his son, Stannis III, was coronated. During his first nine years, he chose to continue the same reforms as his father and grandfather. These controversial economic, arcane, and martial changes in Hawthrone politics and society has earned these descendants of William of Altimir the colloquial dynasty known as the "New Kings". Although many citizens are unsure of what direction their country is moving in, they are glad that the changes have not been sudden and that peace and prosperity have remained predominant in all aspects of life... for now.